The ratings are in! “The World’s Most International Universities 2017”

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Image Source – “The World’s Most International Universities 2017”
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/worlds-most-international-universities-2017

The ratings are in! Two South East Asian universities beat the US and UK in rankings for the world’s most international universities in 2017 indicating that utilizing English as a language of instruction and geographical location can provide Asian universities a competitive advantage. The question now is, will HEIs in other South East Asian countries utilize the “opportunity” produced by political turmoil in the US/UK to steer international students to South East Asia? If so, how?

You will find the full article at – https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/worlds-most-international-universities-2017#

 

5 thoughts on “The ratings are in! “The World’s Most International Universities 2017””

  1. Thanks for the article Wajeeha!
    It is really interesting to already see two Asian countries as number 3 and 4 on the list, with Hong Kong coming in twice in the top 30. I think it really makes the case that English as a lingua franca is quite necessary in order to enable universities to become international/global.
    I also found it noteworthy that only one U.S. school cracks the top 30 (MIT), although the U.S. has the most school represented on the list. This was a little surprising to me considering that the most of listed U.S. universities are very well known and popular in the international community. Yet, they did make a point that since the U.S. produces a large number of qualified domestic applicants, so I can understand how that statistic could factor in.
    Perhaps if American universities enabled more students to participate in international programs/study abroad they could move up in the rankings? I remember, and I’ve heard, that it isn’t always the easiest process and lots of students forgo it.

  2. Thanks for the article! Regarding your question, for quite a number of years, one way that Singapore has tried to attract international students to its universities (and also high schools) has been through offering potential foreign students with Singapore state scholarship. One of the most prominent scheme is the ASEAN scholarship (https://www.moe.gov.sg/admissions/scholarships/asean). These scholarships however, have also been criticized. Some resent the introduction of “foreign competition” to the education system given that these scholars are supposed to be the “best and brightest” from abroad, while others have question the apparent injustice of spending between 14 000 to 25 000 SGD per year on foreign students (http://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/topic.jsp?currentTopicID=00076950-WA&currentPubID=00076917-WA&topicKey=00076917-WA.00076950-WA_7%2Bid-9b0c4db8-b269-4243-86f7-b900988de545%2B3) rather than investing the money to further develop local students. A paper on Singapore for consideration: Koh, A. (2012). Tactics of interventions: Student mobility and human capital building in Singapore. Higher Education Policy, 25, 191-206.

  3. Thanks for sharing this informative news, Wajeeha. It has several interesting points to discuss. This article not only provides facts (data) of globalization (internationalization) but also analyzes reasons behind. For example, what’s the role of the state (government)? In my opinion, it is definitely an opportunity for Asian universities to attract more international students in the political turmoil of US/UK. Chinese President Xi seized the role as a leader on globalization during Davos. It was the first time that China defended for globalization openly. And it was consistent with its policy toward Chinese universities that support them to attract more international students (offer lots of scholarships). It now works well with universities in the middle, however, there is still a long way to go if we want to compete with top US/UK universities.

    I would love to share another interesting article related with ranking: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/why-we-publish-world-university-rankings

  4. *The question in this post is inspired by the following sources. These articles are also a good overview of how the international higher educational climate and traditional dominance by US/UK HEIs is changing:

    https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-fears-decline-international-students-after-trump-election

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jan/18/five-ways-theresa-mays-brexit-strategy-hard-on-young-people-eu-international-students-erasmus

    https://www.studyportals.com/blog/students-less-likely-to-study-in-the-us-after-trump-being-elected-president/

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